What is the most interesting book about mathematics that you have read? Why is it interesting?
What books about mathematics would you recommend a person to read if he or she is at pre-university level?
2007-06-28 09:48:22 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
"A Concise History of Mathematics" by Dirk J. Struik
"Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable" by Brian Clegg
"Fermat's Enigma" by Simon Singh
"Abel's Proof" by Peter Pesic
[regarding unsolvability of the general quintic]
"Godel's Theorem" by Torkel Franzen
[regarding incompeteness]
"Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis" by Dan Rockmore
These are all books in my collection that I recommend. The first one contains lots of biographical information that every mathematician should know about their predecessors, but is rarely taught. The second book would answer 99% of the questions we get about infinity on this site. The rest each deal with a famous hypothesis/theorem that you will certainly encounter again.
2007-06-28 10:16:33 · answer #1 · answered by TFV 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
If you are looking for leasurely reading, books by Ian stewart are interesting reads.
Victor Bryant is brilliant and very interesting. He motivates the subject of analysis and bridges the jump from high school mathematics to university very beautifully.
Greenberg for more advanced courses on calculus was a great text book for calculus. It reads as if the author is there with you.
Hidden connections, double meanings.
Easy as pie.
I have a lot more books in my library, back where I live and names have skipped my mind right now. I will give you more names when I get back from vacation.
Thank you for asking this question and allowing an exchange of interesting books different people have read.
regards.
EDIT: since you say you are pre-university, i think you will enjoy Ian Stewart. My students enjoyed reading for this author before having university interviews.
2007-06-28 17:57:11 · answer #2 · answered by swd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm, I recommend books from Barron.
Some books I recommend from them are:
Algebra the Easy Way, Calculus the Easy Way, Trigonometry the Easy Way, Precalculus the Easy Way, and Statistics the Easy Way. I haven't read Algebra the Easy Way nor Statistics the Easy Way yet, but I'm sure I'll like them.
Trigonometry, Algebra, Calculus, the Easy Way are very recommended books. The author Douglas Downing who wrote those books put them as a story. I enjoy how he explains them very much. I'm not done with reading Calculus the Easy Way, but the mathematics there don't seem to be totally complete and it doesn't teach everything. But it should be enough for the first year of calculus. To be honest any book can help you if you read it(not fictional books, I hate them a lot and they don't help in any form).
2007-06-28 22:06:44 · answer #3 · answered by UnknownD 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Aleph is a good book, it's about George Cantor, the founder of modern set theory and discusses the continuum hypothesis. It's a good mix of some college level abstract math and back stories of the various people in the book.
Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula is another good book, but the material has to be graduate level mathematics or beyond; I can't understand more than half of it.
2007-06-28 17:09:28 · answer #4 · answered by Pfo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Nothing That Is: A Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife. Best book i ever read and i hate books and math. veryyy insightful and i have a whole new outlook on mathematics, believe it or not.
2007-07-05 12:22:10 · answer #5 · answered by Nick 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Fractal Geometry of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot
2007-06-28 17:13:29 · answer #6 · answered by dogsafire 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I have come across a very interesting free mathematics software (not book !). You can download it from http://www.goldenkstar.com
2007-07-01 08:44:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Godel, Escher, Bach
Flatland
Chaos
2007-06-28 16:56:49 · answer #8 · answered by stmichaeldet 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Joy of Pi by David Blatner. In my opinion, Pi is one of the most interesting numbers. It can be seen everywhere in nature.
2007-06-28 17:04:51 · answer #9 · answered by Ella 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I never actually fully read this book, but I skimmed through it. It was a Calculus For Dummies... or something similar. It wasnt just dry math. I mean, I enjoy math... but this book had humor in it. I appreciated that
2007-06-28 16:56:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋